Brand New have always had a lot of potential, but not deciding if they wanted to be a hard rock band or a quiet acoustic band has killed them in there previous efforts. Arrogant fans begged for new offerings from the band and what they got was probably some of the best pop-punk music in a while. While this 2006 release is a soft album, the album released later this year looks to be a hard rock album [basing off the single "Sowing Season"].
The album shows off so much of the lyrical improvement of Brand New. While Jessie's lyrics had improved on Deja Entendu they were still immature on big spurts, which made the album a hard listen. These demos show that he and the band have become much-improved songwriters. This is apparent on the beautiful opening to the album, "Untitled 01", the song speaks of his childhood and even though it doesn't really have a chorus or a breakdown the songs lyrical work and catchiness are better than Brand New's previous albums. The song is a great opener to the album and it really shows Brand New's lyrical improvement while still keeping their sharp acoustic and pop-punk edge.
"Untitled 02", seems like what could be a song on the new album. It's one of the few songs on the album that has a soft-loud chorus formula and is very catchy. Jessie's vocals don't really change throughout the song and neither does the electric beat [besides getting slightly harder during the chorus]. The song flows well and even though it is over 5 minutes long it doesn't get repetitive and carry on like other pop-punk songs, the breakdown is very good while the electric guitar rages to some good drum playing and Jessie sings "If there is an injustice in heaven/ then god won't let me in". This is a nice follow up to the first track.
"Untitled 03", is like the 1st track in that it has deep story telling like folk songwriting with a pretty sorrowful acoustic beat. But the big change in this song is that it has more structure than the first track and the overall theme of the song is war. The song is beautiful and flows a lot better than the first track. The songs chorus is some of the best songwriting of the album, and it again shows the growth in that area by this band. I don't know if they will ever be great on their instruments but there songwriting is unparallel compared to most pop-punks bands quality. An unbelievable track and it shows the growth of this band.
"Untitled 04", is one of the coolest tracks of the album because of it's techno beat and the lyrics by Jessie. The beat is a thumping ticktack beat with little guitar use into the chorus explodes this song. The lyrics lead perfectly into the chorus [which features the first duel vocals of the album]. There was no breakdown that would really fit this song or a beat change so I am very happy with what Brand New did with this song when they threw in a nice instrumental solo with some distorted guitar to lead into the chorus once again. The song is overall very good and beat wise one of the best on the album.
"Untitled 05", starts out with some laid back acoustic beat that quickly develops into a dark electric beat with the vocals kicking in late in the song. The song has the first pre-chorus of the album which is really one big instrumental and the chorus is fast paced but with slower lyrical flow compared to the surrounding lyrics. The chorus is barely repeated which I think it needs to be emphasized more since it is so dang catchy and the beat is so mellow. But Jessie's lyrics are really hunting not only because his tone, but what he is singing, "We'll keep your alive cause your pretty". The breakdown is unbelievable with its heavy electric guitar, which leads to one of the first screams of the album. This song is over 7-minutes long and worth every second of the ride as it ends with a guitar solo.
"Untitled 06" is one of the acoustic songs that has a very dirty beat and stays soft throughout. The song is very catchy in the chorus but the surrounding lines seem to be lacking something, and the beat stays in refrain basically the whole song. This is a good song but it could be so much better with a better structure, and song writing in the surrounding lines.
"Untitled 07", brings back the risky electronic beat of "Untitled 04" but with more electric guitar thrown in and it sounds a lot better since it fits Jessie's vocals and the surrounding lines are improved over the previous track. The chorus sort of distorts Jessie’s vocals but it sounds right since Jessie's vocals are so soft. The lyrics sort of don't flow into the chorus right, but that is my only compliant about this particular track.
"Untitled 08", is a under produced mess and it takes a while to get used to. The song has the same opening lyrics as "Sowing Season" which makes it seem like a rough copy of that song. But it really doesn't have the beat change that that song has and it is an all-acoustic demo. But if you have become a big fan of that song that particular track ["Sowing Season"] this is a very interesting rough copy of that song.
"Untitled 09" is an epic ending to the album. It seems like Jessie is singing by himself without a beat in the begging since the electric guitar is so light but the chorus really speeds it up. This is some of the best lyrics of the album and the drum work is finally up to par. The chorus once again distorts Jessie's voice but once again it sounds just fine, the electric guitar beat doesn't really change to the end of this song. But this song is great because of how catchy it is and it sums up the album perfectly.
This album is a great effort from Brand New, there really isn't a bad song and the only lacking element is the production. While most people doubted if Brand New would ever be the same after Jessie was in the hospital for so long and the band really hadn't done anything, let me tell you they are back and better than ever. While fans of the 1st album may not like this because it isn't as hard, fans waiting for maturity from this band will embrace it.
Track Ratings
Untitled 01 4.5/5
Untitled 02 4.7/5
Untitled 03 5/5
Untitled 04 4.8/5
Untitled 05 5/5
Untitled 06 4/5
Untitled 07 4.2/5
Untitled 08 3.5/5
Untitled 09 4.8/5
Pros:
Not a bad track
Lyrically improved
Instrumental growth/ variety
Jessie's vocals
Cons:
No duel vocals
Hard to listen to all in a row
